I just dropped by to show this really great letter to the editor of the inquirer criticizing one of their usual articles portraying the philippines as small and weak and oppressed by America. his facts may come as a surprise to many:An article (“‘Acceptable presence’ new US basing plan,” Inquirer, 10/15/07) stated that the Philippines is “one small and weak country.” This statement is not true. It is a myth. It is a lie.

The Philippines is the 12th largest country in the world. It is larger than any European country. It is larger than any but one country in Africa. It is larger than any but one country in South America. There are over 160 countries in the world smaller than the Philippines, most barely a fraction of its size; over 150 less than half its size. Metro Manila alone is bigger than half of all the countries of the world. The Roman Empire at its height only had 60 percent of the people that the Philippines has.

Neither is the Philippines weak. To put it simply, a country that is twice the size of 90 percent of all the countries in the world is not weak. A country whose largest city is larger than most countries is not weak. Further, the Philippine economy is in the upper quartile as is the size of its military. The Philippines is an English-speaking country, giving us, in this “English-speaking” world, influence much larger than our size. Filipinos also go abroad in disproportional numbers, making many important key industries dependent upon them.

Adding to the Philippines’ importance is that we are in Asia, a far more important corner of the world -- geopolitically that is -- than, say, Africa or Latin America. The Philippines has played important, influential roles in such events as World War II, the Vietnam War and the Cold War. We will be a key player in such continuing issues as the “War on Terror” and Chinese and Indian growth.

The statement that the Philippines is small and weak is only true when the country is compared with the United States. But the United States is a historical anomaly. No country has ever been as big, powerful or dominant as the United States, particularly in the last generation or so. That country is odd. We should not look to the United States for comparison but to countries more like the Philippines, countries like Indonesia or Columbia.

Instead of asking, “Why are we not like the United States?” we should look at countries like Nigeria, Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Afghanistan, and ask, “Why are we not like them?”

And I find the attached email refreshing, but we know that the self-loathing in the old homeland is a vicious wedge certain sectors in the old homeland use to estrange the deep ties that bind the two countries tightly.